He was pitching on just two days' rest, but then, so was his counterpart on the Twins, Jim Kaat. He'd already lost a game in this World Series, but then, so had Kaat, who matched up with him in Game 2 (a 5-1 Minnesota victory) and Game 5 (a 7-0 Dodgers win). But Koufax had one disadvantage in Game 7 that Kaat didn't have to work through: arthritis. In other games through his too-short (12 years) career, Koufax might have been more dominant, more effective, than he was in this one -- including a then-record 15-strikeout dazzler in Game 1 of the 1963 World Series against the Yankees. But this performance stands out as perhaps his most glorious moment, as he battled through the sore arm and the fatigue to keep the Twins scoreless in a complete-game, 10-strikeout, 2-0 shutout. He still had the remarkable fastball at the end, striking out Earl Battey and Bob Allison to end the game.

But guess who else made the list? Our own father, Steve Garvey, tied for 15 in the 1984 NLCS, Game 4:

Lee Smith, one of the most imposing relievers in the game, on the mound for the Cubs. Tony Gwynn, who'd singled, on first. Bottom of the ninth in a 5-5 game. Garvey at the plate. A stage set for drama. And Garvey delivered it. His home run to right-center won the game for the Padres and kept them alive in the five-game championship series. (They won the next game, too, to advance to the World Series.) The home run was Garvey's fourth hit of the game, adding to a double and pair of singles, and it gave him five RBIs.